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Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Yard things............

I got a little burst of energy a couple of weeks ago so I decided to weed eat a big swath on the (very hot) south side of our house. The grass was already 2 feet tall there! How in the heck do weeds growing out of the gravel look better and greener than our sad lawn? Beautiful thick green grass there, but bare spots and brown dead weeds and very thin grass in our lawn. Go figure.


Here's my side "alley" as I call it.. not very pretty but at least the 2 foot high weeds are gone!


This doesn't look like much, but in town on a small lot, every square foot counts! This area is about 5-6 feet wide, and our neighbors have the same thing, and they had it all cemented and now have waist high grow boxes all along the fence and they grow tons of veggies there. I'd love to do that one of these days. At least I can walk through there now, and for now, it's going to be a good storage spot.

After I was done, I was sitting on our front walkway where we have nice shade in the afternoon, contemplating things..... and the yard....... and I looked over at our soon to be removed (hopefully) rock garden and stump from the tree that blew over on April 7th.


My kitty cat was sitting on the stoop wishing a bird would land in our lilac bush. I thought... hum.m.m.m. wouldn't a little bird bath be nice there? Wouldn't it attract the birdies for my kitties to chase? I mean.. they very rarely ever do catch them, but they have a fun time trying!

And oh... I have this tall garden thingy with hooks that I could stick into the ground there to hang a little flag on or some plant pots.. or oh! I have a pretty turquoise colored bird cage that was given to me... wouldn't that be neat hanging from the hook? So off I went to "shop" my back yard (which is still very ugly to me)...... seeing what I could find. I wanted to pretty up that area, even if only for a week or so. I figured everything would be easy to move, right?

From last summer. Nothing wants to grow there!
I have a lone bird bath way out back that sits in a corner. It was supposed to be my pretty garden corner, lush with shrubs and the bird bath, and has old cement steps I could tier my potted flowers on... but for some reason, nothing seems to like it there or grow there. Everything died and all that was left was the lone bird bath. So I removed the bird bath to give it a home somewhere else.... front yard.

I leveled a spot by the stump for the bird bath and put rocks around it so it wouldn't blow over. There's the tall garden "thingy" (what are these called anyway???) to hang some plant buckets on (before I planted anything in the hanging pots).


Here's "after" I planted some flowers in little hanging pots, and the pretty blue birdcage. The pot inside the birdcage I painted pink.. what the heck, it's MY garden right? My hollyhock is doing well, but bugs are eating up the leaves. Those red roses belong to a neighbor but sure are pretty!

I planted some Molly Bells (left) and more orange ones on the right with some sort of hanging purple stuff (forgot the name). I kind of just "stuffed" them in there, probably too much plant for such a little pot! I was in a hurry. This tall garden stake thing and the blue birdcage were given to me by an older lady across the street who moved away and she didn't want them. Score!
I LOVE the look of the lilac bush as a backdrop, and the bird bath and flowers hanging. It really added interest to my little rock garden, even knowing it would have to be all undone within a week or so!

A few other yard things.... got new chair cushions for our patio chairs...  I'm not showing much of the back yard graveled "patio" area yet as it's still a mess! But the chair cushions sure are pretty. I'm trying to add some pops of color using turquoise (and pink of course)!  This was taken a few weeks ago when it was still barren of any color or plants.


I'm trying to get my old blue hutch moved to a spot that I like and will use. It's next to my house right now, in a shady spot, right next to the water spigot. I like it there and I think I WILL paint it.

OOOhhhh .... got 3 nice tomato plants, all cherry tomatoes. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE that scrunchy hose (on the left) that is 50 feet long and  yet scrunches up to a mere 10 or 15 feet when the water is all out.. and it's so LIGHT! Love it!
I potted up some little Johnny Jump-ups that had been growing in the gravel! I swear, things like growing more in my gravel than in the flower beds and lawn. They are doing very well in the pot, and sit on my yellow stool that I painted last summer (needs another coat of paint).


I transplanted two little strawberries that I had bought last summer (and left in the tiny pots), into a larger tub with my other strawberries that came up after the long hard winter... so now I have a full tub of berries and I ate the first one the other day! 


My raspberry plants are thriving...........tons of berries on them. Maybe in a few weeks will have some for eating.


I painted a few things... here's a pink wall hanging metal pocket that was for Halloween (was a bright orange) and has pumpkins engraved at the top.. buy hey... pumpkins are a garden thing, right? Will plant something in it soon.


And the blue hutch got it's first coat of white spray paint (almost all of it but ran out!).........  had to put paper behind it taped to the house so wouldn't get white spray paint all over the house. The hutch is WAY too heavy to try to move again, even with hubby's help. That thing weighs a ton.

Trouble is, although it wasn't supposed to rain, it DID pour that night after I painted! I was not happy... putting it mildly. Have to put a towel on top, as the rain drips off the roof and makes this very annoying drip, drip, drip sound right outside our bedroom window while trying to sleep. The towel mutes the sound. In this climate (dry dry dry) not many houses have gutters.

That may not been a good place for this baby. but I like the shady spot.  Amazingly... it didn't really wash off any of the paint. I just need to finish it and add about two more coats of paint.


Since I started this post, and then finished it today (June 13th)... things have drastically changed in the front yard! More of that saga on my next post!


19 comments:

  1. Marilyn - Love the relocation of the bird bath to the front garden. Looks like it belongs there.

    Judy

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    1. Yes Judy I do like it in the front yard much better. I can actually see it. so far haven't seen any birds visiting but hopefully soon! Marilyn

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  2. I agree with Judy! Bird bath and shepherd's hook (or crook?) planter make your corner cozy and home-y.

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    1. Hi Jean.. I do like the birdbath in the front yard and that shepherd's hook.. though it's all been removed to make way for the guys removing the stump and roots. I'll do another blog post to show the undoing of it all! xoxoxo Marilyn

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  3. Sooooo much better to have the bath where it is now. Looks right at home, now let's see if the birds will give your cat some amusement :).

    Sounds like you certainly did have a burst of energy and gave your paintbrush a workout!


    xxx

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    1. Doreen.. I do love the bird bath there and the hanging hook thingy.. although since this post, we had to move everything out of there! dug it all up, put in tubs and moved to our backyard gravel area... to make way for the stump removel and roots removal. What a chore and then was a mess again! I'm slowing putting it back together, although it's still temporary as the rock wall gets removed and rebuilt in August.. so everything I'm putting there now has to be moved again. but this time it's all in pots so no digging up! Take care Doreen... xoxoo Marilyn

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  4. Your little spot is just so pretty, Marilyn. Love the colors of the birdbath, birdcage and the flowers. Your lilac bush is just the perfect back drop for it all. A sweet greeting to your guests. Those iris are so gorgeous and wish I had some berries to pick. Thanks for your visit. When we moved here it was about 9,000 people. Now says 11,000. Still small, I guess but is growing all the time. Young people are leaving and old folks are arriving. Still a pretty little town to us..Happy Weekend..xxoJudy

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    1. Judy, my town is about 6000 people.. way too big for me! But is the only place we could afford to buy a decent house and be close enough to our kids.

      As far as my garden, this post was how it "was" before we had to take everything out to make way for the guys to remove that big stump and roots. I did like it really, the way it was in this post, but I wanted the roots out (in fact they HAD to be removed) so they can redo and rebuilt that broken rock wall. I also decided though I love the rock garden, I wanted it somewhere else, so I could walk into my yard from the side gate and not have to go up and down the steps 10 times every time I'm watering the yard! So anyway... we took it all out.. moved everything to tubs which are now in our backyard gravel area, and they removed the stump and roots and left just a big flat level area. Very boring and very naked! Even took out the lilac!

      My next post will show the undoing and redoing of that garden spot! It's an ongoing process.
      Hugs.. Marilyn

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    2. Marilyn: Thanks for the visit. The hydrangeas are doing well this year. Maybe that burst of rain we had since all the drought. I have the one though that was planted the same time as the other one in the gazeebo and it is full and beautiful and green, without any flowers at all. It gets a little less sun but that shouldn't stop it from blooming at all.??. Happy 4th..xxoJudy

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  5. Hi Marilyn, Oh when I saw your stump I got inspired . . . I wouldn't remove it, I would fill that area around it with hens and chickens. Those little plants love tight quarters and would fill in around the stump beautifully. Pretty and very low maintenance . . . beside they are one of my favorite plants. If you were a neighbor I would give you some starters. Sorry, I just got inspired and had to put my big fat opinion in there.
    Have a lovely Sunday!
    Connie :)

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    1. Connie.. I did like that stump and actually salvaged part of it! It's now sitting in our back yard where we want to put in a raised flower bed in the corner. It will add much to that bare spot! Our neighbors right next door have thousands of hens and chicks! so I'm sure I can get a few from t hem, and that's a great idea! We had the stump and roots taken out so they can redo our broken and cracked rock wall. So had to remove EVERYTHING that was there in this post! It's all gone now.. bare and naked.. I replanted everything in tubs and they're in our back yard temporarily. Even the beautiful lilac got moved and it's doing well in it's new temporary spot. I'm slowing filling in the bare area with potted flowers and the birdbath, etc. but it's all only temporary as it all gets moved again when they come to rebuild our rock wall(s) in our front yard in August. But for a few weeks, I want it to look nice, so doing what I can to make it look pretty (with what I have to work with). That's another blog post! Hugs... Marilyn

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  6. Your garden looks beautiful, Marilyn. xo Laura

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    1. Thank you Laura! Although we've since t his post moved everything to another spot so they could remove the stump and roots! My next blog post will tell it all! Blessings to you.. Marilyn

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  7. Oh my goodness, Marilyn! Such a beautiful transformation in your front yard. And now I see by your replies to comments that you've moved things since this post. Looking forward to seeing what you've done. That stump is really cool! Hugs, Nancy

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    1. Nancy.. yes.. since this post, things have been moved around! We kept the stump and is in our back yard waiting for a new home! I'm trying to get a post together of how things look currently! They are always changing and will be until we get the permanent wall in our front yard. It will be a mess again sometime in August! Marilyn

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  8. You did do an amazing transformation..Gardening means moving things around and around. I have a stump too that I'm using...It was a favorite tree of mine and was heart sick when it died...But keeping the stump keeps the memory alive.

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    1. And it's been moved around again since the June post... and will be again in August after our rock wall is replaced! One of these days maybe things will become more permanent! Marilyn

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  9. You have done a lot of work to your garden Marilyn! I just love all the whimsical touches in your garden, and I love your little shepherd's hook, I have several of them, and love them! I will continue reading to see what other changes you have made in your garden :)

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    1. Hi Marilyn...
      Thank you! I love doing fun things in my garden, but not as active as I used to be, so not as much gets done I'm afraid. We live on such a small lot in town now.. and I was so spoiled to live out in the country for the last 25 years.. so hard to have such a small space now.. everything is in pots and tubs, except along our back fence where I'm trying to plant all perennials. The bugs are really chomping down on our plants though which is really disappointing.. after all the work I've gone to.

      My front yard area with the bench is only temporary... our rock wall got cracked when the tree blew over, so having it replaced in August.. so all of that area will get messed up again!

      Hugs... Marilyn

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